Feb. 19, 2005

Final Stats |  Quotes |  Notes

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Danny Granger scored 20 points, Troy DeVries hit his first five 3-pointers and New Mexico beat injury-riddled Brigham Young 91-72 Saturday night.

New Mexico (19-6, 6-4) moved into a second place tie with Air Force in the Mountain West Conference and tuned up for its Monday night meeting with league leading No. 14 Utah with a dominating performance against the Cougars (9-17, 3-8).

BYU struggled at both ends of the floor and never threatened after falling behind 7-0 as Granger hit a 3-pointer, added a layup and David Chiotti scored inside.

It was a complete turnaround from BYU's 68-53 win in Provo last month. Granger was injured and didn't play in that game and Chiotti played only 11 minutes because of a hip injury.

Jared Jensen led the Cougars with 20 points and Mike Hall scored 19.

The Cougars were without sophomores Garner Meads and Keena Young. Meads has missed the last four games with a bad ankle and Young broke his right hand in practice earlier in the week.

Led by DeVries on the perimeter and the inside by the trio of Granger, David Chiotti and Alfred Neale, New Mexico hit 8 of its first 9 shots and 19 of 25 (76 percent) in the first half.

DeVries, who has much more trouble at the free throw line than from behind the arc, hit back-to-back 3s - his second from about 26 feet - that pushed the Lobos' lead to 30-18 with 8:34 left in the first half. Early in the game, DeVries, an enigma all season at the foul line, airballed another free throw, at least his sixth such miss this season.

DeVries finished with 15 points and led a torrid shooting Lobo offense that through the first 24 minutes hit 10 of 12 3s and 13 of 19 in the game.

In the paint, Chiotti, Neale and Granger combined to hit 13 of 18 first half shots. Chiotti finished with 16 points and Neale scored 15.